Since the start of the millennium, podcasts have gone from nonexistent to numbering in the millions, and Edison Research reported in 2025 that around half of Americans listen to podcasts every month—numbers that are expected to continue to grow.
Not surprisingly, this new means of reaching audiences has intrigued marketers in pharma and healthcare.
Several Big Pharmas have introduced their own podcasts to advance corporate branding efforts, like Pfizer’s award-winning “Science Will Win” series and AbbVie’s newly launched “The Persistence Lab.” Many health-focused nonprofits, meanwhile, have found in podcasts an effective awareness-raising tool with a relatively low barrier of entry in terms of production costs.
At ViiV Healthcare, for one, podcasts have long been a central tool for encouraging open conversations around HIV. “Love in Gravity,” which launched in 2023, is a narrative podcast that features original stories from LGBTQ+ Latino writers touching on the topics of love, intimacy and family. “Being Seen,” which began in 2020, investigates the experience of the Black community through discussions with cultural figures and others in 28 episodes across three seasons, with a fourth coming soon.
For ViiV, podcasts represent a way to share stories of the HIV community that its members aren’t hearing elsewhere, as Bithiah Lafontant, ViiV’s head of enterprise communications, told Fierce Pharma Marketing in an interview.
“Podcasts are a key part of our approach because they allow us to meet people where they are in ways that other vehicles simply can’t match,” Lafontant said. “So much of the HIV epidemic and the lives it touches can go unseen, unheard or misunderstood. Podcasts allow us to amplify voices and share experiences that are often not told in mainstream media, bringing depth and nuance to complex issues.”
Similarly, Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (PMCF) launched “Carry the Fire” in 2025 to allow cancer survivors and caregivers to share their stories. The program is hosted by journalist Lisa LaFlamme, and the series’ inaugural episode featured Tennille Rose Will, an artist who was diagnosed with colon cancer, discussing the role of her childhood best friend, actor Rachel McAdams, in supporting her on her journey.
Kenzie Broddy, director of communications at the PMCF, said the nature of podcasts and how we listen to them are key to their ability to deliver emotionally powerful first-person accounts.
“I know how intentional that kind of listening is,” she told Fierce. “You’re choosing to spend time with a podcast, and that matters with a topic like cancer. We’re able to share information through real conversations with clinicians, caregivers and others that help people not just understand the work but also feel real connections with it—connections built on empathy and trust.”
As “Carry the Fire” now enters its second season, Brodie, who is also an executive producer of the podcast, promised that the format will stay largely the same: highlighting research breakthroughs, exploring new topics and bringing in more perspectives.
Building platforms for expert voices
While first-person accounts and dramatizations are both popular podcast formats, many health and pharma audio shows turn to yet another common approach: interviews with experts and roundtable conversations.
That’s the case for many biopharmas’ corporate productions. Pfizer’s “Science Will Win,” now in its sixth season, invites on scientists and other experts to delve into promising medical innovations. Sophia Genetics’ “Decoded,” which launched last summer, takes a related tack, with founder and CEO Jurgi Camblong, Ph.D., hosting expert guests for discussions about how data, AI and other technologies can be used in diagnostics and precision medicine to solve major issues in healthcare.
AbbVie’s “The Persistence Lab,” which debuted just last month, is treading similar ground, recruiting experts both in and out of the lab to unpack various challenges in medicine.
Molly James-Lundak, AbbVie’s VP of R&D communications, told Fierce ahead of the launch that the narrative-style series will explore the “inherent drama in the work of our scientists and other professionals” and, in so doing, seek to inspire listeners with stories of the optimism that’s necessary for scientific advancement.
Beyond biopharma, “There’s a Better Way” is a podcast launched in 2022 by Surescripts. Hosted by Melanie Marcus, the health information network’s chief marketing and customer experience officer, the show explores systemic innovation in healthcare through conversations with researchers, pharmacists and thought leaders.
“Surescripts connects almost every part of healthcare, and we have created a community that we call the Network Alliance. We have a lot of thought leadership out there in articles, and we do webinars, but we asked ourselves, ‘How can we bring the incredible breadth of issues that we see across the network to life?’” Marcus said in an interview.
“Podcasts seemed like the absolute best place to start,” she continued. “They engage you and make it personal. They keep people listening even on difficult and complicated topics.”
Marcus discouraged marketers from seeing podcasts as merely a way to sell a product.
“Sure, our podcast is a marketing tool, but that undersells it by a lot. It’s a thought leadership learning tool,” she said. “Every single podcast is someone in healthcare giving a masterclass. It’s a true relationship builder with our audience, our customers and the guests, and that’s really important.”
A safe space for complex topics
The intentionality required to listen to podcasts—which distinguishes them from many other outreach channels—and the intimacy of the listening experience make them ideally suited to tackling more nuanced subject matter.
“Listen In,” for example, was a three-episode miniseries from the Ad Council that launched in November as part of the “Sound It Out” campaign to help parents talk to their children about emotions.
Deborah Leiter, the Ad Council’s senior VP of campaigns and programs, described the podcast as one of many tools within the broader initiative, adding that it has demonstrated its effectiveness via social media users’ engagement with short podcast clips.
“While our main call to action is to visit SoundItOutTogether.org for the full set of guides and resources, we recognize that not every parent will take that step right away. Families are busy,” Leiter told Fierce. “The podcast gives us another access point to deliver our message, and that’s why we’ve intentionally woven video snippets from the podcast into our social channels.”
She continued, “Whether a parent has time to listen to an episode or is simply scrolling through their feed, we want them to walk away with something they can use in real time to support their child’s emotional well-being.”
Weight management-focused health tech company Noom has created more than 90 episodes of its podcast, “Noom Vibe,” offering thoughts on and strategies for healthy living and eating.
“Through podcasts, Noom can translate complex topics—behavior science, mental health, GLP-1s and longevity—into practical, human guidance,” CEO Geoff Cook said in an interview. “The format lets us elevate expert voices, share lived experiences and explore the why—not just the what—behind healthy habits.”
Cook also got at what is perhaps the common denominator of many health- and pharma-focused podcasts. Whether it’s people living with HIV and cancer survivors hearing their stories come to life or expert voices sharing their insights, the podcast format offers a unique opportunity for companies and organizations to form intimate connections with listeners who are seeking podcasts out and choosing to give them their attention.
“People listening to a podcast spend 30 to 60 minutes with a host or guest, which builds familiarity and credibility,” he said. “That matters in health, where trust is everything.”